10 Things We Learnt About HIV/AIDS From The ICASA2015 Opening

ICASA 2015 is being held here in Zimbabwe and was officially opened last night by vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The biggest take away from the opening ceremony was that progress has been made in fight against HIV/AIDS. Here are more highlights from the 2015ICASA opening night.

1. Mother to child HIV transmission is down from 30% in 2009 to 7% here in Zimbabwe.

2. Adolescent AIDS death has tripled in Africa. HIV is the leading cause of death among adolescents.

3. With more than one million infections in Africa every year, only 52% of people living with HIV know their status, only 41% are on treatment.

4. Adolescent girls are infected with HIV 5-7 years earlier and infections 5 times higher than male course parts.

5. 18% of young women HIV infections are among adolescent girls in Sub Saharan Africa.

6. HIV and children needs more work mostly in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya and Nigeria.

7. “Adolescents are our greatest resource in the fight against HIV and we need to listen to them”, said Minister of Health Dr Parirenyatwa.

8. Every hour, 25 children acquire HIV mostly in Africa.

9. The number of people newly infected with HIV declined by an estimated 41% between the years 2000 and 2014.

10. “Progress has been made against AIDS and we must renew our commitment to fighting HIV and END aids by 20130” – Dr Parirenyatwa.